State officials are about to go after the last of the mute swans - beautiful to some, a menace to others - living in Maryland.
In what many believe will be the final word in a long fight, Secretary of Natural Resources John Griffin on Monday accepted the report of a task force on the swans, saying that his staff is "unfortunately compelled" to continue population control efforts on the fewer than 500 birds still living on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
That means shooting adults or snapping their necks, and coating eggs with vegetable oil to suffocate embryos.
Almost immediately, the report was labeled a sham by two dissenters on the task force.
"It was absolutely a dog-and-pony show," said John Grandy, a task force member and senior vice president of the Humane Society of the United States. "We have a request into the governor for a meeting. Our constituents don't want any more swans killed."
Grandy said the state went back on its word to stop killing swans when the number was "negligible," about 500 birds.
But the task force report says allowing that number of birds to remain "would be a constant and perpetual source of competition for scarce conservation resources."
Mute swans have been a flash point in the management of Maryland wildlife, pitting bird lover against bird lover and putting animal advocates on opposite sides. Over seven years, the battle has been waged in federal court, in Congress and in Annapolis, as each side has tried to block the other.
Even the task force report and the minority opinion show the deep divide.
The majority concluded the birds are "aggressive" and an "environmental hazard" that should be eliminated, if possible. But Grandy and Joseph Lamp, a member of the state's Wildlife Advisory Commission, called them a "beautiful, engaging and captivating part of the Chesapeake Bay" that should be "treasured and maintained for the enjoyment of citizens."
Biologists say adult swans eat up to 8 pounds of underwater grasses daily, eliminating critical vegetation that filters bay water and controls erosion. Ornithologists complain that the non-native swans push native birds such as least terns, black ducks and tundra swans out of nesting areas.
"The biology is clear. The management is clear," said Jonathan McKnight, the DNR scientist who heads the eradication program. "There's not a lot of disagreement except for the animal advocates."
